look, this is not a time to talk about gun control, this is a time to talk about helping these poor mentally ill white folk (unlike muslim people like the orlando nightclub shooter who never ever have mental health issues at all). besides, it proves how important it is for everyone to have guns, because that neighbor guy drove him off with his rifle! also, the fact that he had served time for domestic abuse proves that there is no point in doing things like stopping abusers from owning guns because clearly they will just break the law anyway, so what's the point of making the law?

STOP SHOOTING DEATHS THAT ARE OBVIOUSLY IN NO WAY RELATED TO GUNS - MOAR GUNS FOR EVERYBODY!

also, what's up with this god guy? according to Gov. Abbot, we are working with him to stop all these evil people with love, but he seems to be letting the side down. this is the second group of people gunned down while in the act of worshiping him, isn't he paying attention? maybe someone needs to hold a gun on him to get him to focus.

also also, this guy had serious mental problems AND he was evil - does that mean all mentally ill people are evil? maybe we need laws that make it illegal to be mentally ill! that would certainly be much more efficient than just not letting mentally ill people with a history of violence have guns! because _that_ is totally their right.

but really, it's too soon to talk about all of this. we have to wait until all these shootings stop happening, because otherwise it's disrespectful to all the people who might be alive if we had talked about it before, where is the respect for their sacrifice?

did i get in all the talking points?_________________aka: neverscared!
a flux of vibrant matter

that's getting to be too close to the truth. i heard some commentator on the radio this morning saying that the US has 5% of the world's population of children under 15, and 90% of the gun deaths in that age group, and he's like "we've got to figure out why this is happening." how about WE HAVE WAY TOO MANY FRICKIN' GUNS AROUND??? but you know, gun control isn't the answer. because, um........it's too early to talk about things like that which we should never politicize anyway!! instead, let's talk about mental health and how hard we're working to slash funding for it. (told you the onion was getting too close to the truth)._________________aka: neverscared!
a flux of vibrant matter

Y'know how close The Onion is to the truth? They publish that same article every time there's a mass shooting, changing only the location, number of fatalities, and date, and it always manages to be relevant._________________And if there's a god, you'd better pray,
That this sleeping giant never wakes!

This poster is a white cismale heterosexual. Feel free to ignore him if he starts speaking nonsense.

They're claiming this is not a coup and they haven't usurped Mugabe himself, just detained "criminals" surrounding him (implicitly including his wife, Grace).

The ruling ZANU PF party, which just got done accusing General Chiwenga of treasonous behavior hours before, is now tweeting: "The army is simply effecting a National Democratic Project and it's doing so with peaceful aplomb."

They're claiming this is not a coup and they haven't usurped Mugabe himself, just detained "criminals" surrounding him (implicitly including his wife, Grace).

The ruling ZANU PF party, which just got done accusing General Chiwenga of treasonous behavior hours before, is now tweeting: "The army is simply effecting a National Democratic Project and it's doing so with peaceful aplomb."

Grace Mugabe is "shopping" in Namibia.

The're keeping Mugabe to keep things under the lid and prevent AU's intervention. Not sure it was te whole ZANU PF that endorsed Grace , maybe more just the 'young turks' who then decided, under no threat at all obviously, that the military was wise and all knowing.

There's a strong taboo against admitting a coup has taken place. Zimbabwe has only ever had Mugabe as its leader. Also, admitting that the military will overthrown the "civilian" government would shatter the fragile veneer of credibility they've tried to build up, and likely wouldn't be accepted by either their neighbors nor the African Union as passably legitimate. Even if, you know, the guy they're unseating is Robert M. F. Mugabe.

Saw an indepth analysis on telly stating that foreign's view and local one differs considerably. Mugabe is still seen/remembered as the liberator of the country, even after everything he did since. Rhodesia wasn't a paradise at all, that's a given.

Right now, opposition is in tatters, if memory serves the previous pm was from opposition and he narrowly escaped with his skin. As long as the country improves economically, this coup will succeed.

Now , what would happen if Ms Mugabe decides to put up a fight and stir trouble?._________________我的氣墊船裝滿了鱔魚

For an “empowerment” index for gun owners, researchers calculated a score for each respondent based on their level of agreement with eight statements: “Owning a gun makes me feel: (a) safe; (b) responsible; (c) confident; (d) patriotic; (e) in control of my fate; (f) more valuable to my family; (g) more valuable to my community; (h) respected.”

Though some of the empowerment categories were small, those in the low- to medium-empowerment categories tended to use guns as collectors’ items, for defense, or for recreation. (More than two thirds of those in the low-medium category used rifles for recreation).

Of the high-empowerment group, 74 percent had handguns for protection and 28 percent reported having a semi-automatic weapon. Nearly half of the group thought that violence against the government might be necessary—a 40-percent jump in the number who said the same in the next lower empowerment group.

Quote:

In terms of perceptions about the cause of gun violence in the US, women, nonwhites, older, and better-educated gun owners were most likely to see the availability of guns as a significant factor in violence. White men, on the other hand, tended not to blame guns. They were also the most likely group to see insurrection as justifiable.

“These findings indicate that a portion of gun owners who feel empowered by the gun form a distinct interest group—one that opposes gun control and feels that social problems and perhaps even personal troubles might be best solved by guns,” the authors conclude.

look, as a woman, i'm all for believing women, but this is getting to be executing men without even a trial, and with considerable collateral damage (as keillor points out in his statement). maybe we should have some sort of hearing, and construct some sort of scale of offenses, given men some opportunity to show growth and change? i don't want to denigrate the feelings of someone who has been groped (it's even happened to me, i know how scary and disorienting it is) - but it's not rape. and it's not always in a situation where a woman has to submit to something in order to keep her job. we really need to start getting some perspective here, or there is going to be a huge backlash._________________aka: neverscared!
a flux of vibrant matter